Category Archives: Business

Happy New Year to all! I genuinely hope that 2015 will be an amazing year for all of us and I will keep my proverbial fingers crossed till the very end to “help” make it so. However, call me a cynic or simply a realist, but considering the events of 2014 and the trend we’re on, hope is literally the only thing that keeps me imaginative of a brighter future. (And this should explain the attached cartoon). 🙂

One of my resolutions this year is to share a practical how-to or pragmatic tutorial, for every theoretical/philosophical article I’m planning to write. Considering I’ve still got two parts to finish writing on my “Imagination is more important than Knowledge” series, and this year I’m also planning to finally make public my “Trinity One” philosophy of life (and core system of thinking) which will take at least a dozen posts just to present the core elements, I better get started on writing a lot more practical tutorials.. Anyway, before we jump into pragmatism, I’d like to introduce you to the beautiful Resolutions video, wisely created by the School of Life team. And one of the main reasons why I’m posting this video here is because I want to remind myself of things that are actually important and worth remembering. I believe that the statements posted in this video, the wise advice, is well worth considering and actually following in our daily lives:

The inspiring intro: In his latest article called “The secret to successful new year’s resolutions is walking through doors“, Oliver Emberton wrote that the actual secret to making resolutions that actually work is also the secret to making a hit movie. If you read the article on his website (no affiliation btw, I’m only one of his subscribers), you will find a very interesting brief story involving disclosures of secret formulas that actually work, very witty cartoons and a spot-on creative process description which sums up to something like this: I totally agree with him. And not just because I like to use processes in almost everything I do (I even have a process on how to use randomness), but because I’ve tested and experienced what he described in his post and I know for a fact that it works. And actually, so should you. Because you tested it too but if you don’t know it yet is because you didn’t fully realised that you’ve done it and it worked for you. So get off your couch/comfy place, wherever that may be in your head, and after you read the man’s post, take some positive action (e.g. maybe get off facebook and all other silly social media networks, at least for a while..I sure did). Changing the macro-world requires a change in our micro (personal) world. That positive change always starts with a positive idea. Followed by a thought, then a statement, then a personal commitment, then (optionally) a public commitment, then mandatory a plan of action, then a personal “punishment” for failing to keep your word (promise to self), and finally the positive action itself. The result of your idea-thought-statement-commitment-plan-promise-action will be your fulfilled goal. Or you can follow another process. Just please don’t do this:

But this time is gonna be different! (by xkcd.com)

Now since this post is meant to be a practical “how to”, from now on I will keep the text waffle to a very minimum and will focus on the deliverables I’m referencing here:

1. Create & Innovate

The what: The first step to resolve anything is to state the concept or the problem, regardless of its nature. No no, not just with your mouth, you need to actually write it with your hand. But before you write anything, you need to focus on what you really want. If you don’t know what you really want, then focus on what you don’t want. OK, now that you got it, you can start creating your wants or don’t wants.

The how: Believe it or not this is the easy part. Once you sort-of figured out what you want and what you don’t want (they’re mutually exclusive and therefore easy to deduct one from the other), now you just need the medium to express yourself and visualise them and their interconnections. I recommend you start with different colour paper (i.e. post-it notes) and a blue pen, or with blank white paper and a set of colourful pens/markers. Here is a 4-page PDF cheat-sheet on how to use colours in human interaction.

We should make use of appropriate colours to express ourselves and communicate better with ourselves and with eachother, because human psychology thought us that we react to colours a lot faster and a lot better than we reacts to words. Despite the fact that I’m an IT geek and I’m always with a gadget near me, I still use post-it notes (my desk and my room are full of them actually) and on top of that I use 3 white boards, 1 cork board and a large number of magnets to stick notes on things or just make funny patterns with them.. I also write on my body, on the mirror in the bathroom, on and with everything I have at hand (once I even drew with goats cheese on a rock). So just use whatever you can from your environment to express your creativity in an instant moment. At the end of the day, what matters most is to materialise your thoughts, your wants and your don’t wants, so you can remind yourself of them and stay focused on your goals. If you are looking for inspiring ways to kick-start your creativity and get you going, then check out these 31 ways on How To Be Creative.

Finally the apps:

The Mind Map is the absolute best digital tool I used for creative expression and focused thought management. If you’ve never come across mind maps before then I’d highly recommend you to watch this TED video: Tony Buzan on The Power of a Mind to Map.

My favourite mind mapping application on my desktop and slate is FreePlane. As the name suggests, it is actually free (Open Source) and its also full of free features for which many competitors charge a high premium. FreePlane is a JAVA based application, it works on Macs and PCs (Windows and Linux) and its native file (.mm) can be imported by probably all other mind mapping applications.

However since FreePlane doesn’t have a mobile version, I also use Mind42 which is a completely free cloud-based mind mapping app. Mind42 only requires a browser connected to the Internet to work, and for convenience it stores all data on the cloud with the option to export it locally as well. As a native app on Android, I sometimes draw basic diagrams in Mindomo (the free version) and when I’m back in front of my pc/slate, I transfer them in one of my main thought tracking maps in FreePlane or Mind42.

If for some reason you don’t like mind maps and prefer a direct replacement for post-it notes, then I’d recommend you Google Keep (if you use Gmail and Android) or else Evernote or Wunderlist.

2. Organise, Budget and Plan

2.1 Organise yourself: OK so now that you created lots and lots of ideas, if you’re anything like me, then you probably lost yourself under a big pile of post it notes. Just kidding..sort of. However, trust me on this one, the hard part is already gone because writing anything meaningful on a blank sheet of paper (or a post it note) which is relevant to your goal, is the most difficult thing to do. Once you’ve done it, the easy part is in finishing up that creative spark of yours with a process.

Now here is where things get fun: if you used any of the methods or apps I recommended above at point 1, you already have your ideas and goals probably in different formats. All you have to do now is rank your statements based on their importance to you and to your goal. To help you rank them and prioritise them, I’d recommend you to use the Eisenhower Decision Matrix. You can use this Important-Urgent matrix for time management at home and at work (just don’t use the same one for both!). If this is not something you like then I’d recommend you an Excel spreadsheet with a few predefined columns:

Finally, I will recommend something so basic that I’m sure you’ve used them countless times in life, but if you’re still reading this then you probably haven’t used them often enough: checklists :)! I’m not a fan of repeating info already well compiled by smarter others (or better organised than me), so if you’d like to learn how to optimise the use of checklists and get very well organised, please read the following article: Use the power of check lists!

2.2 Budget your Finances: If you’re living on Earth then I’m sure one of the problems on your list must be either managing too little money or too much. I genuinely wish we wouldn’t use money at all and we’d replace this fiat system with a knowledge-based one where the richest man is the smartest (or most gifted in crafts/arts/skills etc), but that’s a story for another article and maybe another timeline all together. For now let me help you with some sound financial advice: Start Tracking your own Finances (income & spendings) and Learn how to Budget efficiently!

I know finance is one of the most boring and utterly uninteresting industries/subjects on the planet (for me at least) so I will not drag this for longer than it needs to be. The first thing I’d like to recommend you is a budgeting app which works on PC, Macs and mobiles. The absolute best personal budgeting and financial tracking app I found (which I’m also using myself) is called You Need A Budget (YNAB). I have no affiliation with YNAB whatsoever, I’m just a happy customer & user of their software. However, if you don’t want the app and you only want the knowledge, then check out their method and their free tutorials.

If you’re old school or simply wish something more..spreadsheety-like (pun intended somewhere in there), then feel free to use my Financial Tracker Template (click on below image to download it). The green cells are for you to fill in with your real values. I only put in some mock values in there so you can see how the sheet calculates totals and ratios for you. The purple cells are formula cells and I’d only recommend you to change them if you know what they do, otherwise let them be as they will calculate the total/average/intermediate values for you automatically. Here you go, have fun for both of us:

2.3 Plan ahead: If we clearly define our goals, then organise our tasks and finally create a sustainable action plan to reach our goals, we will end up having a lot more stress-free time to spend with our dear ones and doing what we love. However, in one of my previous posts called “A new beginning” I stated that: if our world is so complexly “engineered” to be in balance, all we have to do is stop messing it up and find our inner emotional and spiritual balance, because the physical is obviously taken care of since before we came into existence and will be taken care of long after we move on. – That’s if we don’t mess up this planet beyond repair.. So we need to follow our desires while taking into consideration those of our peers and our mother planet Earth. Its not enough to just discover what we want and go for it. Our complexity and higher intelligence demands from us to be responsible in our goals and actions.

Therefore the only thing we need to do after we organise our own life, is to make sure that our current and future actions are ethical and in balance with the laws of Nature. As a kind reminder, this is how I define an ethical action: an ethical action must respect two fundamental rules:

I. First rule: Respect human Life and act to protect Life, or act in a way which does not harm Life.

II. Second rule: Take positive action which is in favour of the individual, but only if:

2A: it doesn’t violate the 1st rule,

2B: it doesn’t hurt or disfavour other peer individuals,

2C: it doesn’t damage the environment which the individual and his/her peers belong to. (The environment in our case is: room-building-estate-city-county-country-continent-Planet Earth and the impact must be considered at our maximum reach which now is global level, not just personal and local.)

Some further reading material from FastCompany on productivity, planning, goal setting and success:

Personally, I believe that the foundation for happiness is a good heart, an open mind and a healthy, free body; but that’s just me. Happiness is something (or someone) we all need to find individually…but if I may, whatever you decide to do in your pursuit of happiness, please do it in an ethical way. Multumesc! 🙂

Once you find your happiness never let it go! Oh and wear sunscreen! 😉

This post will serve as a tutorial on personal online safety and privacy. Due to the mixed technical knowledge of any audience, I’m going to write it mainly for the general computer users but I will add advanced sections for tekkies. My advice will apply mainly to Windows users due to its low security level and the amount of vulnerabilities and threats targeted at this operating system, but you will find Linux & Mac sub-sections as well. Just to note, I’m not planning to detail on corporate security here, but you’re welcome to get in touch with me if you’re a corporate/business user interested in my services.

Before I start, I’d like to mention 2 things: 1. This tutorial should be considered a guideline. As I am not performing the service on your machine in person, I take no responsibility for any issues that you may encounter while following my advice. If you choose to apply any of the information available in my post, you do so on your own responsibility. And 2, this post will be periodically updated so feel free to bookmark it (add it to your favourites) and come back to check for new info.

Three steps to what I think good security is for anyone surfing the Internet from home/office:

2. An up to date secure browser that is configured correctly: Mozilla Firefox (recommended), Comodo Dragon or SRWare Iron (both based on Chromium, just like Google Chrome, but with high privacy and security, without the tracking features of Chrome and Chromium) Please note that Internet explorer is NOT a secure browser! See below for my tutorial on enhancing security of your browser.

3. A secure network = Connect to the internet through a network that’s protected by a hardware firewall. Most routers today come with a built-in software firewall that provides basic protection, at least use one from a well-known manufacturer (eg. Cisco, DrayTek, LinkSys, NetGear, D-Link). If connected over WiFi, secure it with WPA2 AES and a strong password!

Part 1. How to secure your computer?

1.1 I’m going to start with Windows users

A) The most reliable way to secure your PC is to backup your essential data to an external hard drive (if available, also backup your critical data using an online backup service like SpiderOak) then format your hard drive(s). Unplug the network cable from the pc, disconnect all peripherals except your keyboard, mouse and monitor, then install the latest version of Windows 7 SP1. After Windows 7 has finished installing and is up and running, restart your computer. Now install your preferred security solution. I strongly recommend Kaspersky Internet Security which at the moment is at version 12. Can be purchased from Amazon for a discounted price, check it out. After you’ve got KIS installed, reboot your pc. Log into Windows, connect your computer to the internet and update Kaspersky. Reboot if required. Then install the optional updates from Microsoft updates that are new drivers for your hardware, and ALL updates under the Important Microsoft Updates section. Be patient, it will take a while and your computer will need to restart once or twice. When that’s done, you’ve got a secure computer for sure! Now you can plug-in all your peripherals, install the necessary software, restore your data and customise your PC.

B) Considering most users are not willing to go through the hassle of reinstalling everything (you should do it on Windows if you want to be sure that you’ve got a safe computer), I’m going to write a list of basic steps that should help you secure your machine:

Reboot your PC.

Use your Internet browser to download and install CCleaner. Run it with Admin rights, check ALL the options in the first tab except the last one that says “Wipe Free Space”. Do not check that as it will take a long time to finish and its only necessary in data sanitary conditions. Click on the second tab called Applications and check all options. Now select Analyse, wait for it to finish, then click on Run Cleaner. Restart your computer.

Click on the Start orb at the bottom left of your screen and search for “msconfig” (without the quotes). Run it, go to services and check the box “Hide all Microsoft services”. Now disable (uncheck) all the services that you don’t recognise (make sure you know what you’re doing!). Then click on the Startup tab and uncheck the items that you don’t recognise. Reboot. (Tutorial here and video tutorial here -not mine)

Now uninstall all the unnecessary software from your machine and reboot. (Start-Control Panel-Programs and Features). Win7 performance optimisation tutorial by Microsoft here

After rebooting, run CCleaner one more time (Right click on Recycle bin and select Run CCleaner). Unless you’ve got a good Internet security suite installed on your machine, uninstall it, reboot and then install Kaspersky Internet Security. Comes with 30 days trial. For free solutions, use one of these

1.2 Linux users – well most of you already know what you’re doing so I’m not gonna brag about it. Here are 3 steps for more novice Linux users and 1 for advanced:

Use a popular distro that provides regular security updates and has a 6-9 months release cycle. eg. the multiple flavours of Ubuntu, Linux Mint, OpenSuse, Mandriva, Fedora, CentOS. Always keep your distro up to date! (I run sudo apt-get update / sudo apt-get upgrade every time I log into my Linux)

Use ClamAV. Set it up to update and scan automatically. This tutorial shows you how to set it up in Debian based distros.

Use a software firewall. Select one from here that suits you but I recommend using the integrated firewall on your distro, or else (Adv.) use iptables or a dedicated firewall solution eg. SmoothWall

1.3 Mac users – no offence to anyone promoting no threats on Macs, but if you’re one of them allow me to tell you this politely: you are an idiot and you should switch to Windows asap because you’re a n00b. Thanks! 🙂 Seriously now, the threats on Linux and Macs get onto your machines through your browsers or your open ports (and on Mac there are plenty). Linux is a very very secure operating system because is based on the UNIX architecture. Apple’s OSX is also based on Unix since version X but while its better than Windows, its far from the security of Linux. If I were to put the top 3 most secure OSs out there, then it would be: OpenBSD – Linux – Solaris. Yeah, Windows and OSX are not there, here is why and here and here and finally here. Now my advice for you guys:

Always install ALL updates from Apple. If they release a new cat on the marker, be sure to be on it as its faster and more secure than the previous generation. If your Mac’s hardware doesn’t support it, at least upgrade to the latest available OS for your hardware, then follow my advice in this post.

The serious threats on Macs come through your browser. Use the latest version of Firefox for Mac for your OS. Use the latest version of Safari. Configure them correctly (see below my advice on how to configure browsers securely). How to properly clean your mac regularly.

DO use a security suite on yr Mac if you’re not an experienced user, or at least an antivirus + the built-in firewall. If you choose to install a security suite, then pick one from here (Sophos or BiDefender would be my choice for premium and iAntivirus or Clam as free options)

Take a look at Apple’s own security support page. Report findings if you have concerns.

Keep an eye on securemac.com as they’ll keep you up to date with the latest threats on your platform.

Part 2. How to secure your browser?

At first I really think you should read this article if you’ve got a basic understanding of Internet encryption. Towards the end of the page, you’ll find “How to force use of 256-bit AES for secure web and secure email”

How to automatically clear history in Safari here; advanced tutorial for Mac here

Due to the fact that Firefox is the most secure browser, is the one I recommend you to use! Here’s how to configure it:

Set Firefox to always clear your browsing history upon exit. Mozilla instructions here

Uninstall useless addons and extensions (all toolbars included)

Install the following Add-ons for Firefox: HTTPS Everywhere, AdBlock, TrackMeNot, BetterPrivacy, Lightbeam, Flagtfox, NoScript and Ghostery. Please note that NoScript requires user interaction and manual approval of scripts. Ghostery updates itself but make sure u select it to block everything by default. You can allow whatever you want as you browse. However, allow only the scripts from websites you’re familiar with, don’t enable any other ones when visiting websites!

(Adv.) Use the instructions in this article to set your Firefox to use 256bit AES SSL encryption on available sites.

For those of you that prefer Chrome, I strongly recommend you to use Comodo Dragon instead (if you’re on Windows). Or else Iron if you’re on any flavour of Linux. Dragon & Iron are virtually Chrome but with enhanced privacy and no tracking features. You can download Comodo from here and Iron from here

Enable mac filtering and configure it to allow access only for your devices.

Advanced instructions for Internet Anonymity:

I believe that people have the right to choose to live a private digital life if they really want to. Therefore I will summarise 3 ways on how to achieve real Internet surfing anonymity but I won’t go into specifics. To achive this you obviously need to have followed at least my advice above to secure your computer.

Open-source can play a very significant role in Ireland’s future and its good to know that some of you are interested in technological benefits that move things forward for the whole country, not only for an individual or a company.

An introduction to Open Data. The main goal of the project is to make it easy for people to have access to Irish government data via an innovative platform that takes a grassroots approach to get people involved in achieving a more transparent and accountable government in Ireland. The project aims to do this by helping Irish citizens to get access to high value, machine readable data sets that have been created by the Irish government sector authorities in the normal course of their business. By having this data available in a meaningful form we can help enhance government services and open up accountability.
The Irish government, like many governments, has been a little slow in coming forward and fully embracing the idea of transparency. Rather than waiting to see what happens, the members of Open Data have taken the initiative and decided to demonstrate the virtues of open data and the great applications that can be built using readily available technologies.

Open Data will be of massive benefits to so many Irish citizens and companies alike but from my perspective, I’ll be extremely happy to gain free access to it as well. As some of you might know, I’m building a national multi-modal multi-platform public transport information system and I will release it for free to the whole country. It will route (with turn by turn directions) from any national point A to any point B only by using public transport. Its part of my final year project in DCU and I know it will help move things forward in the right direction. At least for the public transport infrastructure. This should be one of the most important goals right now, especially for the leading multinationals and the Irish Government: do whats necessary to move things forward for everyone.
(www.TMTproject.eu)

Earlier today I finished writing a very short research paper on Software Process Improvement models and the suitability of a process quality model like CMMI or ISO/IEC 29110 in the Irish SME and VSE environment. Please allow me to share some of my findings with you.

Kevin Ryan, from lero.ie (The Irish Software Engineering Research Centre) wrote the following in the IEEE Computer Society journal no.6/2008: “Information and communication technologies, particularly software, play a crucial role in the Republic of Ireland’s remarkable economic growth. The Industrial Development Authority states that nine of the world’s top 10 software companies have significant operations in Ireland, making it the largest exporter of software in the world. In 2007, Ireland exported €50 billion worth of ICT products and services. Forty percent of the packaged software and 60 percent of the business software sold in Europe originated from Ireland. ” But that was in 2007.

The downturn in the economy has changed things quite a bit since then though. Further research has showed that Ireland completely lacks a software quality culture. And without sustainable quality in any industry, a company cannot survive long past its innovative starting point or past an economic boom. The current recession clearly proved that no matter how technological innovative a company might be, if its not constantly quality compliant, then soon enough will become a not-existing entity.

SMEs are central to the Irish economy and the software development VSEs play a major role in Ireland’s economic growth. The majority of people, but especially the decision makers from all industries – the managers and CXOs, really need to let go of the old ways and understand the benefits and advantages of using (the right) Technologies that will move things forward, will bring significant ROI to their companies, and subsequently to the country! The Irish government needs to acknowledge this and do everything they can to help them have the right resources so they can help the country. Ireland has no other major industry (that I know of), to bring significant revenue, so what other way is this country going to get out of the major debt is into now? I’m happy to hear ideas, maybe we’ll even gather enough to make a difference!

Two days ago I had the pleasant surprise to receive a personal invitation to become a member of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce (www.dublinchamber.ie) I think this is a fantastic opportunity for any business to be part of the prestigious organisation that has its roots in the 18th century, and I have already confirmed my first attendance which will be on the 19th of May. Now why is this so amazing? Just keep reading and you will find out! (References: dublinchamber.ie, en.wikipedia.org and my email)

A bit of history

The Dublin Chamber of Commerce is one of the oldest such organisations in Europe and traces its origins back to the Autumn of 1695 when the Dublin shipping company of Ferris, Twiggs and Cash sent their vessel Ouzel Galley on an important trading journey to the near-Eastern Seas. Due to the fact that the vessel went missing for over 3 years, the insurance policy on the ship was cashed in on the assumption that it had been lost at sea. Two years later, five years after leaving the fishing village of Ringsend, the Ouzel Galley sailed back up the River Liffey causing consternation. According to Captain Eoghan Massey, the Ouzel Galley had been commandeered by pirates and nobody could decide the ownership of the treasure aboard. To sort out the situation and the ownership of the ship and its cargo, Dublin merchants set up the Ouzel Galley Society in 1705 that was very successful at providing a forum to discuss the issue and a lobby on business-related issues. It continued as a forum for business-related issues, changing its name in 1783 to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce.

Today

After over 200 years, the Dublin Chamber of Commerce continues to represent the business interests of now over 1,500 companies across the Greater Dublin area, making it the perfect partner to help a business grow. Providing a blend of networking, support services and access to government it aims to increase the prosperity of Dublin and its members. The Dublin Chamber of Commerce is the City’s most powerful and enthusiastic advocate, playing a role in major developments affecting Dublin city and its environs. More info on http://www.dublinchamber.ie